Portraits of a Friend

Portraits of a Friend (1980)

Menchu and I would often go to the British Museum after Cecil Collins’ class. On one of our excursions, we were wandering through the halls and she pointed out a mirror that was hanging at an angle high on the wall. The guards would use it to keep an eye on the people in the room.

Menchu told me that she had a habit of surreptitiously running her hands over her favorite marble statue in the corner of the room. One day, she looked up to see the guard watching her in the mirror and smiling. I have always hoped that the sense of touch that lit up the guard’s face is reflected in these drawings of her.